by Adams, F. G.
The forest fades into a wide-open clearing. I cut the engine and hold my hand out for her. She clasps it and dismounts easily. Taking the helmet off, she runs her fingers through her tussled hair.
“Where are we? This place is magical. It’s like we’ve been transported into our own little paradise.”
I help her to the spot I prepared earlier.
“Madam.” I bow, pulling out the picnic basket.
“Where’s Styx, and what have you done with my man?” She chuckles and kneels down onto the blanket.
“Wine?”
“Please.”
She sips her wine, looking around at the great outdoors. I relish in the moment. My woman is on the mend. The new beginning of a future filled with Savannah’s happiness is all I want. To watch the joy on her face as I shower her with all her wishes coming true.
“What do ya think of our place?”
“Huh?”
“Where we are right here”—I point down at the ground—“could be our family room. And over yonder, the master bedroom. Just think about waking every morning to the view of the river.”
“Styx—”
“I’m pretty sure the space over there is flat enough to build a fort and play yard for the kids.”
“Styx—”
“I’ll leave you to decide where the pool should go. And I’m totally open to the layout of the house. Whatever you want, blondie. Sky’s the limit.”
“Styx—”
“Not gonna take no for an answer, Savannah. My mind’s made up. This is the perfect place for us to build a family. You and me. When you’re ready to go back to work, the base is only twenty miles south. This place can be our private getaway from the rest of the world with all the amenities close by. I’ve thought of every reason for you to say no. You feel me?”
“Heaven to Betsy, Styx…I…um…I’m speechless. How? When? What are you saying?”
“Welcome home, Savannah.”
She places the wine to the side and stands, turning around slowly until she’s facing me once again.
“I love it.”
I can’t help myself as I reach for her, pulling her onto my lap. She straddles me, peppering my face with soft kisses.
“Perfect place to raise a family.”
Her breath hitches as her tongue wets my lips and deepens the earth-moving kiss. I open to her unique taste, savoring the moment. I let her lead, in no hurry to move fast. Where she goes, I’ll follow. The need surging inside me is all for the woman rubbing up against my dick, nipping and sucking my lips. Passionate and fierce. It feels like a lifetime since I’ve felt her silky depths, and before I realize what’s what, I have a raging hard-on, aching for release.
She leans back and removes her blouse and unsnaps her bra. Beautiful. Then she stands, shucking the remainder of her clothes. I stand quickly, ridding myself of mine.
“Baby, it’s been way too long. Are you sure about this? You’re ready?”
“Touch me, Styx. Slow and easy,” she breathes, her gaze meeting mine, breaking a little piece of my heart with the unspoken vulnerability staring back at me.
I swallow hard, dying a little inside from wanting to comfort and touch her so badly. “No pressure. You say the word, and I hit the brakes. We stop. No questions asked,” I whisper, grazing her puckered-up nipple with my thumb. Because of my actions, she went through hell and back to survive captivity. I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to her.
She lifts my other hand and places it on her other exposed breast, staring intently into my eyes. The gentle touch of a woman in need. Soft, delicate Savannah under my fingertips.
“Prolonged and overdue,” she murmurs with an air of sexy confidence. “New beginnings, Styx.”
“Fresh starts.”
“Besides, as long as I have you by my side, I’m good.”
“We’ve got forever, baby. We found the thing most people search for and never find—a once in a lifetime kinda treasure—true, honest to God love. You and me.”
“I love you, too, Styx.”
“It’s you and me, blondie. Forever.”
“It goes without saying, but I feel the same way about you,” she murmurs, slowly sinking down onto my engorged dick.
Her tempo is slow and easy. Our gazes remain connected, two magnets pulled together by an unknown force, as the intense pleasure courses between us. Her lips part as her breathing escalates and her eyes remain locked on me. She places delicate fingers on my shoulders as fear clouds the sensual haze building between us.
“Stay with me, Savannah. Feel me. Feel what you do to me. It’s just you and me. The way God intended us to be. Worshiping you. It’s our turn, baby.”
Her chin dips low in acknowledgement, all the while she continues a steady climb toward her impending climax. My hands caress the firm cheeks of her pert little ass, lifting it up and down. The crisp, cool smell of autumn is in the wind. The graceful touch of her breasts and thighs is enough to send me rocketing skywards. But I hold on. She’s first.
Sensations swamp me. Damn, she looks like an angel with the glow from the sun setting, her blond hair framed around her face. Desire pierces me from her stare. She’s magnificent. I clench my teeth when lust for more of her slams into me, stiffening my throbbing muscle to an all-time hardness.
“Simply gorgeous. You melt me, Savannah. It’s just you and me, making love the way two people should.”
“I’m close. I can feel you.”
“I’m with you. Come with me. Together.”
“Together.”
She rocks against my pelvic bone, massaging her clit with each downward slide.
“That’s it, baby. Take me with you.”
“Styx,” she loudly screams.
The grip on my shoulders tightens, and I follow her over the edge into oblivion.
Epilogue
A few years later…
“The lust for acceptance, that stealthy being that enters the house as a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master. It’s an ever-present force that can’t be denied. And I really don’t give a shit anymore.”
~Savannah Bushard
It’s been three years, four months, and five days since we exited Afghanistan. Left behind the horrors of the days we were held and tortured.
Styx has never left my side the entire time. Stuck like glue. Pulling me along, never letting me go. Through thick and thin, the good, the bad, and the ugly, he’s been my constant. He’s my rock, solid and true. Not sure why, but he’s with me. I suppose it’s because we’re kindred spirits. I’m thankful for his persistence.
I never thought I’d feel this way again or ever, really. I realize now the menial jaunt with the ex is nothing compared to the relationship I’ve built with Pete “Styx” Fuller. He completes me.
Once Jocelyn assisted in the healing from my PTSD, the future seemed much brighter. I accepted a position at the base closest to our home. Charge nurse of the pediatrics unit. The work I’ve been part of there has changed me in a way my stint overseas never could.
Grayson has been amazing for Styx. Who would have ever thought? Not me. As Styx communicated time and again, he is one of his best friends. Little by little, I took a shine to him.
He’s showed up around the property on more than several occasions to help Pete, along with Johnny. It means so much that they care the way they do.
Another plus is that the property Styx bought us just happens to butt up to Grayson’s family property. He and Ella are building a home close to ours.
The rooms are ready, and the playground is placed carefully outside. Styx took a whole day, with the help of Johnny and Grayson, crafting the perfect place on our land for children to play. A playground fit for kings and queens between the two properties. I still can’t believe the fantastic jungle gym they created between the three of them. A place all the children will enjoy.
Today is a day of celebration. Well, sort of. The fragrant, rich smell of homemade blueberry muffins drifts through
the kitchen. My mother’s homemade recipe. A significant reminder this is my home.
We’ve been waiting for months to hear from this particular agency. They’ve gone back and forth, to and fro. It’s been a never-ending roller coaster ride. The anxiety and scrambling emotions are coming to an end.
There is an expectant mother; her due date was yesterday. The one stipulation is she’s having twins and doesn’t want them split up. We haven’t been privy to any other information. Not that it matters to us. We just want a healthy baby or two. For Styx and me, we’re ready to begin our family.
Grayson and Ella are here at our newly finished home, along with their firstborn, my godson, Taylor. I’m extremely edgy today, the anxiety elevating the butterflies in my insides. The moment of truth. The icing on the cake.
Is it possible to have everything you want out of life? Is it fair for one person to be so happy? Do I deserve it?
In a thousand years, I never believed to be this excited. Barren yet content. Friends and family have replaced what I lost long ago.
The Blackwood family and Trident Security have opened their arms and accepted us as family. Not that my mother and father, the only surviving Bushards in our lineage, aren’t awesome, but to be loved by people who don’t even really know me is amazing.
The smile on my face has frozen into place. I can’t get rid of it and frankly, I don’t ever want to. I am perfectly perfect.
The sun is beginning to set in the Florida sky. Glancing out the large bay window, I see Grayson playing with his son off in the distance on the newly-built playground.
“What’s going on in that beautiful mind, blondie?”
“Hey, stud. Just taking in the view.”
“Grayson’s a great father. Maybe someday…” Styx pauses, and I realize the pain he’s feeling.
Even though he’s never let on that I’m anything but exactly what he needs, he wants to be a father. And it doesn’t matter how it happens.
“You’re gonna be a fantastic father someday, sugar.”
“Yeah? And you’ll be a great mother, blondie.”
“We okay?” I ask.
“I’m perfect, baby. You’ve given me so much more than I ever thought a man like me could have. Thank you,” he says and kisses the top of my head as he wraps his strong arms around my waist.
In the distance, I hear a ringing. It’s incessant badgering adds to the level of apprehension and won’t stop.
“Vanna? You gonna answer that?” a tired, pregnant Ella asks.
I look to Styx and his hard-set jaw.
“I can’t, sugar. What if it’s…I just can’t. I’m too nervous.”
“I’ve got this, Savannah. Come on, woman.”
He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the ringing phone. Answering the call and placing it on speaker, he greets, “Hello.”
“Mr. Fuller. This is Yolanda Gains, from the agency. I’m calling about the twins,” she finishes.
“Yes, Miss Gains. How are you? We were wondering if we’d hear from you.”
“I understand. There’s been a new development and many other things happening in this one case. But Mr. Fuller, are you still wanting to adopt twins?”
My whole world spins, and I’m unsure how I stay on my feet until I feel a strong arm wrap around my body. Styx is holding me up with one of his massive biceps. My rock, my solid.
“Yes, ma’am. We do. We’ve been waiting so long.”
“Well, I want to make that happen for you today. The mother has just gone into labor. Can you be at the hospital within, say, the next few hours?” Miss Gains asks.
“Yes, of course. We’ll be there,” I say, emotions taking over my senses.
I answer the caseworker without any thought. I’m anxious for the outcome.
“Hahaha. Yes, ma’am. Of course, you can. I’ll make sure to have all the necessary paperwork. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Fuller. You’re about to be parents.”
When we hang up the phone, an expectant Ella is watching, her blue eyes full of love and joy. I glance over to Styx, and the tears in his emerald eyes produce a lump in my throat from the pleasure they cause, incomparable to any other moment in my life.
Today, we will become parents. Today, I will finally be a mom. Everything that’s happened to me in the past fades away further into the background. Through the trauma and the days I felt I couldn’t go on, all of it is nonessential.
My life is now complete.
My life is perfect.
I couldn’t ask for more, and I’m excited about the possibilities of what the future holds for me and my family.
“Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain, but you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.”
~Savannah Bushard
Other Books By F.G. Adams
Men of Lakeview:
Grayson: Book 1
Keagan: Book 2
Oliver: Book 3
Lukas: Book 4
Micheal: A Scrooged Christmas
Styx’s Stand
Donut Be Shy
THE ENCHANTED IMMORTALS TRILOGY:
Book 1: Aldin’s Wish
Book 2: Fox’s Awakening
Book 3: Marcus’ Vengeance (Coming Soon)
Acknowledgments
Thank you for purchasing and reading Styx’s Stand. You’ve enabled us to do what we’ve always dreamed about—writing. Savannah and Styx’s story was a soul searching journey for both of us. We first met them in Grayson when Savannah and Ella were kidnapped. Savannah’s character has been screaming to have her side of the story told. The many emails and messages we received asking when it would happen, overwhelmed us. We sure hope you enjoy their journey.
We absolutely love and adore Mikey Lee and Heather Roberts with L Woods PR. From the your wealth of knowledge and encouragement goes above and beyond our expectations. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you so much Julia Goda, for taking on the dynamic duo. Twice the edits … twice the fun. Your knowledge and know how helped make Lukas not just a great book, but a fabulous one. We love you big.
Thank you to our dear friend, the amazing Stephanie. Lady, you are the boss. We love you and appreciate everything you’ve done and continue to do to help us.
Thank you to the bloggers, street team, and our fabulous Sisters in the Sisterhood Hangout for all your support and friendship.
Thanks to the men in our life for supporting and understanding our dream.
Yours truly,
F.G. Adams
About the Author
F.G. Adams writes contemporary and paranormal romance about sexy alpha heroes and feisty-mouthed heroines. The wonder twin sisters forming F.G. enjoy a healthy obsession of reading that started at a young age. Their books reflect an avid imagination that was cultivated by their grandmother who taught them the mind has no limits and to use both hands when reaching for the stars. Partners in writing, they both thrive on creating unique storylines for you, the reader, to enjoy.
When not writing, you can find them on a beach with their significant other enjoying the waves or riding a Harley on a country road somewhere in the USA.
Tell Us What You Think. Please leave a review. We enjoy hearing reader opinions about our books.
